Servicing and resale

[jonm]

Hmmm, just faced with paying for my first 'B', main dealer = £421, (first 'B' was done before I bought it @ 18 months old) local 'specialist' = £250 (claim to use MB only parts and both use Mobil 1). I am quite prepared to believe that a specialist is just of capable of servicing an MB (to be honest they probably have more to prove than the main dealers, but, is the general opinion that main dealer stamps lead to a higher resale, or not. Personally, not sure its makes much difference to me (evidence so far doesn't suggest to me that main delears really know what they are doing any more than anyone else). Curently car is nearly 3 years old and I will keep for maybe another couple of years. Which brings me on to my next point, warranty is up in a coupe of months, is anyone out there away of anything that I can do to extend this with MB (i.e do they sell anything & is it worth having). Its had several warranty returns and the thought of no warranty doesn't fill me with joy (in fact there is currently an engine noise I'm not happy about, so far two returns have yielded nothing).
On this last point I am considering trying something along the lines of

'you say there is nothing wrong, I think there is...if in xyz it does go wrong I want it to be covered under warranty'

Anyone else tried this?? if not, think it might work???

Thanks for help-- really enjoy the forum by the way, do tend to find that I ask more questions than I am able to help others though!!


Cheers
Jon

 

[jimmy]

Main dealer service history does make a difference to resale values, but only upto a point, maybe 5 or 6 years and then specialist history is just as good.

I would suggest that if you do have a problem, insist that MB sort it whilst you have the original warranty. If your local dealer wont then try another.

There are warranties available from the likes of AA and others, had one in the past on another car. I had to claim twice and had no problems. Worth the money in my opinion, I will be either extending the warranty or purchasing another warranty when the original runs out on this car, too much to go wrong and electrical items are expensive.

 

[DieselE]

To keep Mobilo Life active, you will need MB dealership stamps and your car would seem to be "young" enough to have that. If you do a search with the word "rust", you can read all the threads and then form a view as to whether the extra cost of MB servicing is worth having to preserve the anti-perforation warranty and other Mobilo Life benefits.

That apart, I agree with everything said so far about resale value.

 

[996jimbo]

Hi john.

So far as whether to use main dealers or not - there really is no definitive answer. I guess all you can really do is ask yourself whether it would make a difference to you when buying a car whether it has FSH or FMBSH? I would suggest that it makes some difference, though less as the car gets older. Then you need to ask yourself whether the difference warrants the higher cost of MB servicing.

Personally I use a specialist, but my car is 7 years old.

I think you can buy an extended warranty. This I would assume will tie you in to MB servicing though so the first question above may then be academic. Again though you have to ask yourself whether an extended warranty is worth the money. There are also commercial warranty companies out there. I once bought a used car which came with a (non manufacturers) warranty but the warranty wasn't worth diddly squat.

So far as the fault you think you have - the fact that you have reported the fault and you are within the warranty should mean that it is covered. However there will also be an element of reasonableness. Given that you can't simply say "my car has got a fault" when it hasn't, and expect any fault that subsequently arises to be fixed under a warranty that has lapsed, there has to be some kind of cut off.

I would recommend that whilst you still have a warranty in force you try and get any problem sorted. If it goes wrong say a week after the warranty runs out & it is clear it is connected to the fault you raised with them then you should be fine. If it goes wrong in 3 months time the dealer may well argue (not unreasonably) that any failure is not related to anything reported whilst under warranty.

Just my thoughts (no warranty given or implied for my views!).

EDIT - typed too slowly! I agree with the previous two posts.

 

[ddentrec]

(evidence so far doesn't suggest to me that main delears really know what they are doing any more than anyone else).

98% of problems can be fixed by a good independant: the other 2% is where specialist knowledge available from DaimlerChrysler is required. It could be argused that only a franchised main dealer can get this info. Also, independants may not get access to the 'Service Advisory' bulletins from DCUK.

Its had several warranty returns and the thought of no warranty doesn't fill me with joy (in fact there is currently an engine noise I'm not happy about, so far two returns have yielded nothing).

This is more common than you think: on average my C-Class has to be returned twice to get anything done properly under warranty; in some cases parts were not replaced when dealer said they were. Remember that warranty work is dead money for most dealers--MBUK pay a fixed unit price of warranty labour: had my 2003 C-Class for 5 days and all they did (after interrogating the service manager) was reset the fault codes and wash the car: had to visit another dealer to get problem sorted.

'you say there is nothing wrong, I think there is...if in xyz it does go wrong I want it to be covered under warranty'

In the last year of the warranty it is vital that any such issues are sent to the dealer principal and MBUK in writing. My C-Class has developed an intermittent transmission fault. I know the dealer will not really take an interest based on my previous experience of 31 warranty visits in 2.5 years. And I now that the problem will become an issue after the warranty expires later this year. So I have written to dealer and MBUK so that I do not get the 'We have no record of you informing us of this problem during the warranty period'.

I will be purchasing an extended warranty through a third-party, not MB.

Good luck.

 

[Rory]

Is MB's warranty their own, or are they simply reselling a 3rd party warranty?

ddentrec - the issue I see with your approach is that if the transmission fault needs repair once the MB warranty has expired, MB may not be interested. The third party warranty company may also refuse to pay out, if it becomes known to them that the fault was pre-existing!

 

[ddentrec]

Is MB's warranty their own, or are they simply reselling a 3rd party warranty?

ddentrec - the issue I see with your approach is that if the transmission fault needs repair once the MB warranty has expired, MB may not be interested. The third party warranty company may also refuse to pay out, if it becomes known to them that the fault was pre-existing!

Absolutely correct Rory!

1. Have had no response to my letter (good).
2. Will book car in for repair before warranty runs out.
3. MB dealer will not find anything (as expected).
4. Fault will re-occur: will book car in again-dealer will find nothing/change unaffected item.
5. Warranty runs out.
6. Gearbox fails/problem more predicatable. Dealer identifies problem.
7. Dealer wants £1000 'contribution' from me for new gearbox out of warranty.
8. I pay and issue summons via small claim court (I know this works as I have done this before with Vauxhall: judgment is made on whether defect was present within warranty period, not when it was reported).

As for the extended warranty and knowing if the defect pre-existed that is a good question: would submit the claim, keep my mouth shut and see what happens.

 

[dagd]

My daughter has a VW Polo which is just coming up to three years old and required an MOT (Warrenty also expries). I took it to the Local Dealer (not where we purchased it from) and I asked if they could do a warrenty chack prior to doing an MOT. They were happy to do this and found three minor problems, one of which would have caused an MOT failure (windsecreen washer pump intermttant!). These were rectified under the manufacturers warrenty without question, not sure they would have offered this if I hadn't asked! So I had around £500 (inc labour+VAT) worth of stuff done for the asking!

On onther note, my local Dealer (Tony Purslow), sent me a rminder recently, rminding me that my Merc was approacing three years old soon and would require an MOT and service.

They pointed out that if I wanted to extend the warrenty, then a pre warrenty inspection is required (cost=£250).

However, they offered me complementtary Vehicle Heath Check, free of charge for the asking and I quote;

"This will ensure that all work covered under warrenty will be completed prior to the expireation of the contract. If during the health check we discover wear and tear items, this will be reported to you as normal and as is the case with any standard type of service, this would be chargeable".

So as with my daughters Polo, I had the free check done prior to the MOT just in case.

Not sure if this helps, but not all dealers are bad!.

regards

dagd

 

[ddentrec]

'Free Health Check' will not identify a gearbox fault issue.

My suspicion of main dealers is borne out of 30 years experience dealing with them and nothing else. True, some dealers are very good. But dealer margins are being squeezed and MB is no different: warranty work is done at literally zero profit for the dealer-and the money is made on servicing, used car sales and new car sales' target kickbacks.

It is also true that MB will settle some claims out of warranty. But you only have to browse through this forum for W210 rust repairs to see that this is varied. And if you do get a repair it may be a cheapo 'smart' one to minimise cost at the expense of quality.

 

[Rory]

On onther note, my local Dealer (Tony Purslow), sent me a rminder recently, rminding me that my Merc was approacing three years old soon and would require an MOT and service.

They pointed out that if I wanted to extend the warrenty, then a pre warrenty inspection is required (cost=£250).

However, they offered me complementtary Vehicle Heath Check, free of charge for the asking and I quote;

"This will ensure that all work covered under warrenty will be completed prior to the expireation of the contract. If during the health check we discover wear and tear items, this will be reported to you as normal and as is the case with any standard type of service, this would be chargeable".

So what would be the difference between the 'complementtary Vehicle Heath Check' (which would take care of any warranty items) and a 'pre warrenty inspection' (at £250).

That's *such* a rip-off. Is it because it's a 3rd party warranty? Even if it is, then if it's done in conjection with MB, you surely ought to be able to go straight from MB warranty to extended warranty without paying the inspection charge.

 

[jonm]

Thanks all.

Guess I'll take it in asgain for the engine noise and write a letter if it isn't fixed.

On the warranty work not being done, hmmm, the poor reception on the radio and the wind noise round the drivers door have both been 'fixed' twice ....apparently.....

Cheers
Jon

 

[nickmann]

...warranty work is done at literally zero profit for the dealer-and the money is made on servicing...

Not always...

At my recent B service it waspointed out to me that I needed a gearbox seal replaced as fluid was travelling up the wiring loom. The dealer sent it to DC for a goodwill warranty claim (car is 1997).

When DC rejected it I told the dealer that as the price of the job was quite high, about £5 for the seal and about £100 labour, they should just order the seal and I would do it myself. They said don't worry - that was the warranty rate, we'll only charge you the normal customer rate - about £60. Ace!

I wonder if the dealers have their own different policies for warranty rates?

 

[jeremytaylor]

On onther note, my local Dealer (Tony Purslow), sent me a rminder recently, rminding me that my Merc was approacing three years old soon and would require an MOT and service.

They pointed out that if I wanted to extend the warrenty, then a pre warrenty inspection is required (cost=£250).

However, they offered me complementtary Vehicle Heath Check, free of charge for the asking and I quote;

"This will ensure that all work covered under warrenty will be completed prior to the expireation of the contract. If during the health check we discover wear and tear items, this will be reported to you as normal and as is the case with any standard type of service, this would be chargeable".

dagd

Purslows told me that the pre-warranty extension inspection would be free if the car was still under warranty, but that I would have to pay £250 if, once the original warranty had expired, I wanted to buy an extended warranty.

Didn't bother personally, as my car had been perfectly reliable up till then.